Working in the danger zone

A plastic bag, not a glove, protects the hand of this technician from Pakistan’s top bomb disposal unit during a search operation in the city of Peshawar - the historic gateway to the Khyber Pass and Afghanistan, and the target of militant attacks time and again.

This makeshift equipment is not unusual for the squad, which is chronically short of money and manpower. Still, it has managed to defuse over 5,000 devices since 2009.

11 Sep 2013. PESHAWAR, Pakistan. REUTERS/Zohra Bensemra

Shafqat Malik - pictured standing with his hands on his hips as he watches members of the bomb disposal squad display their equipment - has led the unit for four years.

"When I joined, we just had a few wire clippers," he said, adding that technicians would poke at bombs with six-foot-long sticks to try to defuse them.

Now, Malik's unit has 10 sniffer dogs, 20 bomb-disposal suits and four remote-controlled bomb-disposal robots from Britain. The United States donated vehicles and investigative kits. Both countries have trained Pakistani officers.

But it doesn't stretch far. Two of Pakistan's four provinces suffer almost daily bombings. District-level bomb units have little training and almost no kit.

Shortages mean members of Malik's squad often fall back on improvised equipment or material seized from the Taliban, although it's frequently old or unstable.

“We have zero budget," said Malik. "You have to be a madman to do this job."

2 Oct 2013. PESHAWAR, Pakistan. REUTERS/Zohra Bensemra

A member of the 38-man unit patrols with his sniffer dog during a bomb search operation.

Between actually defusing bombs, the squad is supposed to secure VIPs, the courts, churches, police headquarters, government offices and airports, any rallies or high-profile funerals and foreign missions. They also investigate blasts, testify in court and train new officers.

Members of the unit have intercepted bombs smuggled into courts in computers and bombs mailed to senior policemen in diaries. But hundreds are missed. At least 139 people were killed in Peshawar over a recent eight-day spell, in attacks on a market, a bus and a church.

The unit’s main problem is that they only get basic police salaries and there is no structure for promotion. Without danger pay to entice more men to train as bomb technicians, 70 percent of 130 positions are vacant.

The job is dangerous: a dozen men have been killed in the last five years.

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Slideshow

2 Oct 2013. PESHAWAR, Pakistan. REUTERS/Zohra Bensemra

A technician from Pakistan's top bomb disposal unit is helped into a bulky protective suit during an operation in Peshawar.

2 Oct 2013. PESHAWAR, Pakistan. REUTERS/Zohra Bensemra

He kneels down to rest under the weight of the heavy gear.

12 Sep 2013. PESHAWAR, Pakistan. REUTERS/Zohra Bensemra

A member of the squad is helped into his protective outfit during a demonstration at the unit's headquarters.

2 Oct 2013. PESHAWAR, Pakistan. REUTERS/Zohra Bensemra

Members of the squad patrol with their sniffer dog.

2 Oct 2013. PESHAWAR, Pakistan. REUTERS/Zohra Bensemra

A technician from the unit uses plastic bags as gloves during a bomb search operation.

2 Oct 2013. PESHAWAR, Pakistan. REUTERS/Zohra Bensemra

A technician holds an explosives detonator.

12 Sep 2013. PESHAWAR, Pakistan. REUTERS/Zohra Bensemra

Squad members prepare an improvised detonator by fixing a cord into a plastic water bottle.